Sara Adams, the Cisco Australia and New Zealand regional manager for SMB, said: "Cisco believes online collaboration, built on the network as the platform, is a key way for Australian SMBs to work smarter and better compete, particularly at a time of significant challenges in the economy. Whether it is communicating across time zones, increasing access to training, qualifying leads or giving employees the freedom to work from home, collaboration technology can meet the unique and diverse needs of SMBs."

Adams said StatSeeker and Kinetic Securities are strong examples of advanced Australian SMBs who are using online collaboration technology to grow their businesses and simultaneously meet their flexibility and productivity needs.

To further understand the collaboration needs of Australian SMBs, Cisco has undertaken market research into the market, and today released the results of the first phase.

In January 2009, Sweeney Research surveyed 400 senior employees at Australian businesses with between 20 and 199 employees. The survey results showed that SMB leaders are looking for more flexibility in where and when they do their work but not at the expense of productivity or of the quality of interactions with colleagues, customers and prospects.

Key findings of the SMB working practices survey include the following:

* Half of SMB senior employees agree that remote working provides a better work-life balance. Those SMB leaders with younger employees (18- to 39-year-olds) and those that have children at home are more likely to agree.
* One in 10 spends more than four hours a week travelling to and from meetings.
* One in five commutes more than one hour every day to work.
* They work away from their primary workplace an average of five times per month, with the owners or partners of SMBs working away from the primary workplace even more frequently (35 per cent do so at least three times a week).
* Nearly all have worked overtime, with almost half working outside of their normal working hours every day.
* Also more than half take work home at least once a week, with 16 per cent taking it home every day.
* The majority consider the morning their most effective time of the working day.
* Business processes they identify as the most time consuming are preparing reports and presentations, attending internal meetings, training other employees, editing and approving documents, travelling, and attending external meetings.